Controller for locks of demountable containers



Nov. 15, 1932. B. F. FITCH CONTROLLER FOR LOCKS 0F DEMOUNTABLE CONTAINERS Filed Feb. 11, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 ai 1 g E 1 r r/40 40 40 Ila .1

5 5 4 40; O o 1, g +0 pi [Lr 1iw o 1 've'ntoz Nov. 15, 1932. B. F. FITCH 1,887,711

CONTROLLER FOR LOCKS OF DEMOUNTABLE CONTAINERS Filed Feb. 11. 1931 .3 Sheets-Sheet 2 gwoentoc 7 M, 915% r-v m Nov. 15, 1932. B. F. FIILCH 1,887,711-

CONTROLLER FOR LOCKS OF DEMOUNTABLE CONTAINERS Filed Feb. 11, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 gwmmtoz J3 m a @W, i twat M Patented Nov. 15, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT o FIcEJ-TJ.

BENJ MIN r. FITCH, or GREENWIOH, connncrrco'r, Assrenon TO Moron TERMINALS COMPANY, or WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION or DEL W RE CONTROLLER FOR roc s or DEMOUNTABLE CONTAINERS Application filed February 11, 1931. Serial No. 515,081. a

This invention relates to door locking mechanism for demountable containers, soarranged that the deposit of the container on its support may automatically lock the door or 5 leave it unlocked, according to a predetermined setting of the mechanism.

In its preferred form, my invention provides, in the base of the container, a'depending'mechanism which is adapted to be raised to look a door of the container, and provides, on the support on which the container is to be deposited, a shiftable abutment which the container-locking mechanismfl may engage or miss, according to the position of the abutment. Accordingly, when'the abutment is in an active position, the mere placing of a container on'the support-automatically locks the door of a container, while when the abutment is in an inactive position, the door locking mechanism remains idle notwithstanding the deposit of thecontainer on that support.

I have shown, in the drawings hereof, different embodiments of my invention, and have herinafter more fully described the same, and have set out the essential novel features in the claims. 1 In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a flat car equipped with my settable abutmentsa container being shown in the right hand portion of the figure, and indicated, but not shown, in broken lines in the left hand portion; Fig. 2 is a plan of the car and container shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a vertical section through one of the container doors, as indicated by the line 33 of Fig. 1,,but on a larger scale and showing the mechanism in locked position; Fig. 4 is an elevation of the locking mechanism itself on a still larger scale, the parts being shown in full lines in unlocked position; -Fig. 5 is a plan'of one form of my movable abutment for controlling the locking mechanism; Fig. 6 is a vertical section throughthe container andthe floor of the support, looking from within toward the door, this view showing the door locked; Fig. 7 is a similar view of the lower portion of the container and the supporting floor, showing the door unlocked; Fig. 8 is avertical section of the lower portion of the con tainer and the upper portion of a supporting vehiclehaving amodifiedftorm of adjustable abutment, the parts being shown in unlocked position; F ig. 9 is a similar view-showing the parts inlocked position ;[Figs., 10 and 11 are transverse sections on the correspondingly, numbered offset-planes on Figs. 8 and .9 respectively; Fig. 12 isa fragmentary side elevation ofa portionoflthe car-and container showing the operating lever for the movable abutment'of Figs. 8. and '9'; Fig. 13 is a side elevation of still another:modification of the abument ;Fig. 14 is afragmentary planof the abutment/0f Fig. 13, showing the active. position in full lines and the.idleip'osi+ tion inolotted lines. I Asshown inFigs. 1, 2 and 6 to 9inclus1ve,

A indicates the floor of a railway car or other support, and B a demountable body adapted tobe placed interchangeably on such support 'oron a highway truck; The truck and flat car, if such is employed, each have suitable means for positioning the- 'body thereon. Such means are now shown in Figures 1 and 2, and comprise upstanding L- shaped pieces engaging the exterior of the body at the corners, as shown in my Patent No. 1,657 ,07 6, or may be upstanding. conical members engaging sockets beneath the 'con-' tainer floor as shown in my Patent No. 1,772,939. I

The demountable bodyB, as shown here in, comprises a substantially rectangular container having a suitable floor frame 10, side walls 12, end walls '13-and a roof 14, and equipped with double doors15 atthe opposite sides and at opposite ends ofthecontainerQ Each pair of doors 15 is provided with a latching device with which the automatic lock cooperates. The latching device, 'tl1e lock and the adjustable controller for the.

lock are shown herein particularly with referenceto a pair of side doors shown in Fig. 1, but it is to be understood that a similar arrangement may be employed for each of the other pairs of doors. i

As shown in Figs. 3 and 6, the latching device comprises a pair of upright bolts j2o and 21, slidably guided by-housings 22 and i 23 on the inner face of the door. The inner ends of the bolts are secured to a rocking head 25 which is rigid on a horizontal shaft 26 mounted in a door. On the outer side of the door this shaft rigidly carries a handle 27.

By oscillating the handle 27, the head 25 is rocked, which forces outwardly or draws inwardly, as the case may be, the inner ends of the two bolts 20 and 21, so that they may be projected behind transversemembers of the container, as for instance, behind the lintel member 18 above the door, and behind the sill member 19 below it, as shown in Fig. 3, or may be drawn respectively upwardly and downwardly to clear such members. The extreme ends of the housings 22 and 23 have substantially round holes guiding the bars at these points, whereas the adjacent walls of the housings have transverse slots enabling the pairs to swing as the member 25 is rocked. It will be seen from Figs. 3 and 6, which illustrate the same position of the latching device, that the projected bolts 20 and 21 when extended will effectively retain closed the door which carries them, and the other door which is overlapped by such carrying do or. I mount on the door which does not carry the shaft 26 a suitable clip 28, which the latch handle 27 is adapted to abut when the doors are latched, and then a suitable sealing wire 29 may be passed through an opening in the clip and around the handle, thus sealing the container'doors closed. After the shipper has loaded the container and closed the doors, he may latch the doors and apply the seal '29 to furnish the usual protection in shipping less-than-carload freight. However, to provide an absolute lock, preventing'the releasing operation of the latching bolts automatically as soon as the container is deposited on its vehicle, whenever that is desired, the mechanism of this invention is provided. I "This will now be described, particularly with reference to Figs. 3, 4', 6 and 7.

Mounted in the floor of the container is a box-like housing'30, havingin its upper wall an opening 31 through which the lower portion of the bolt 21 extends, when the bolt is in latched position. .This housing 30 has a pair of downwardly extending wings 32 carrying a pin 33 on which is pivotally mounted a bell crank 35. This bell crank has an upwardly extending arm 36 which is provided with an overhanging arcuate lip 37, which is adapted to overhang a laterally bent end 24 ofthebolt 21. When the lip com overhangs the bolt (as indicated in Figs. 3 and'6), it is impossible to withdraw the bolt, and accordingly, the doors are tightly locked.

en however the bell crank is in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 4, the lip entirely clears the overhanging end 24 of the bolt, and that bolt is therefore free so that the handle 27 may be operated to rock the shaft 26 and thereby withdraw the two bolts 21 and 22. The bell crank is normally held in this idle position by a counterweight 39 on the end of the lateral arm 38.

When the container is suspended, or is mounted on any suitable support not equipped with a locking abutment, or if such abutment, though present, is out of registration with the bell crank, then the bell crank stands in the position shown in Figs. 4 and 7 and is thus idle. Now, on the car floor I mount suitably positioned abutments indicated at 40 in Figsrl to 7, at 50 in Figs. 13 and 14, and at 60 in Figs. 8 to 12. The abutment'of any of these forms may be positioned to register with the bell crank or clear the same, as the case maybe. These abutments are of sufficient height so that when the container is deposited on the vehicle the counterweighted end 38 of the bell crank strikes the abutment if in its active position, and is thereby'swung'into locked position, as shown in Fig. 6. j j

- Nowit sometimes happens that it is desired not to automatically lock the container doors when the container is deposited, but to leave one ormore of such doors controlled only by its seal or padlock, so that it may be opened without removing the container from the car-or support. To efiect this, I provide the abutment which is on the flat car or other support in such form that it may be readily set either'in an active position or idle position, according to whether the container which is to be deposited is to be automatically locked or otherwise.

One form of the abutment is illustrated in Figs. 3 to 7 inclusive, and comprises an upwardly facing stirrup 40 having its horizontal end portions 41 lying beneath overturned edges 43 of a supporting plate 44 5 which is shown as secured by bolts or screws 45 to the car floor A. This stirrup is shiftable manually on the supporting platform to an active or inactive position. It is adapted to be locked in either position by pins 46 passing through registering holes in the overturned flanges, the stirrup lips and plate. These pins may be provided with chains 47 held by two of the bolts 45 to prevent loss of the pins.

If we assume that. Fig. 5 shows the stirrup in its active position corresponding to Fig. 6, then if the pins are taken out and the stirrup pulled forwardly, it becomes inactive, as shown in Fig. 7, and may be retained in that position by passing the pins through the other holes 48 in the retaining member.

In place of providing the retaining plate 44 on which the stirrup slides, I' may simply pivot the stirrup at one end to the flat car or support, as shown in Figs. 13 and 14. In these views, the full lines'show the stirrup in its active position, the stirrup, designated 50, being held by the pivot pin 51 and the removable pin 52 secured by a chain 53 to the stirscribed has the characteristic that it is set before the container is mounted on a car and may not thereafter be changed until the container is raised. Accordingly, if it is de sired at the time the container is placed on the car that it shall remain locked until it reaches destination, this form of se'ttable abutment may be employed 'to advantage. On the other hand, it is sometimes desired thatthe lock be releasable at will, being controlled either by a railroad seal or a padlock, and in that case, I prefer to employ the abut ment illustrated in Figs. 8 to 12, and which I will now describe. I

In the figureslast mentioned, the abutment 60 is in the form of a block or arm on a rock shaft 61 mounted transversely in the floor of the car and provided at its outer end with a rock arm 62 which constitutes an operating handle. Now, when this handle 62 lies-in a horizontal position, as shown in Fig. 12, the" arm 60 (which has two surfaces at right angles to eachother and at a materially dif ferent distance from the shaft axis) projects upwardly as shown in Figs. 9 and 11, and is hence in a position to engage the locking bell crank 38 and hold the container locked. The operating handle may be retained in this active position by a suitable seal or padlock 64, which may be passed around the handle and through an'angle clip 65 carried by thecar side and forming a support for the op erating handle. When the handle issealed or locked in this position, the abutment arm 60 is in position to effect the locking of the container. 7

When the handle 62 is turned into the upri ht position, as shown in broken lines at 62a in Fig. 12, the abutment arm 60 is turned down into its horizontal position as shown in Fig. 10, whereby no stop is provided for the descent of the locking bell crank 35 and this locking mechanism for the container then remains inactive. V

It is desirable that considerable lee-way be allowed in the height of the abutment to insure locking without requiring extreme accuracy. To this end the arm 36 of the bell crank is preferably somewhat flared and the lip 37 thereon has considerable length so that it will interlock with the hook 24 in various positions of the bell crank. Fig. 6 shows the normal locked position. However, the counterweighted arm might be considerably lower than there shown, without withdrawing the hook from the lip 24, withdrawal not being complete until the counterweighted arm39 has dropped nearly into the position shown in full lines in Fig. 4. On the other hand, if

the abutmentis' of greater height than nor.- mal, itsim'ply rocks the bell crank somewhat further and clearancein the housing is allowed to enable the bell crank to move clear up to-the abnormal position indicated by the uppermost broken lines. V a 1 a the bell crank locking device is a simple constructiomand self-con- It will beseen that tained in its housing, which is adapted to be readily mounted in the floor of the container without causing anym'aterial obstruction to the interior; and this gravity-actuatedibell crank door cooperates with any of theforms of my adjustable'abutment. As soon-however as the latched container is deposited on a predetermined support having any of my abutments in active'position, the automatic rocking of the bell crank locks the latch bars of the" corresponding door. This insures the container remaining locked until it is elevated from its support, or in case of the rock shaft embodiment, until the handle seal is broken and the handle swung to abnormal position. I

I claimi 1 i 1. The combination of a container, a grav ity lock therefor, a support for'the container, a movable abutment carried by" the support and adapted to coact with the lock and'raise itto active position or be out of coaction, ac-

cording to the position of theabutment. I

2. The combination of a container, agravitational. door locking mechanism therefor, and an adjustable controller adapted toengageandraise said mechanism'tolock the door automatically upon the deposit o'fthe container on a support or to clear said mechanism. 1 Y r 3. The combination of a container having a door in its wall, a latch for the door, a lock depending from the floor of the container for controlling the latch, and a movable abutment carried by a suitable support and adapted to be positioned on the support to miss the lock or to engage and raise it, when the containeris deposited on the support. r 4. The combination of a container having a door, a latch for the door, alock for the latch carried in the base of the container and having a depending member, a support on.

surface of the s'upportand'rising above the general. level thereof, a container, door lock ing mechanismtherefor having a raisable operating member depending from the container within the outside boundary thereof, said abutment normally standing below said member but shiftable horizontally to active or in- 130 active position while the container is absent stirrup.

-from the support but unchangeable when the containeris onth'e support;

6. The combination of a support, an upstanding stirrup movably mounted thereon, a container having a door locking mechanism with 21 depending operating member adapted to engage the stirrup in one position of the stirrup and clear it in another position of the 7. A demountable container having a door,

a locking device therefor including a counterweighted member tending to move to un locked position but adapted to be moved to lockthedoor, and a support having an adjustably positioned abutment adapted to clear the counterweighted member or to en"- gage it and raise it into locking position. 8. The combination of a container having a door, a downwardly extending latch bolt therefor, a counterweighted bell crank car ried by the container having a lip adapted to overhand a shoulder on the bolt when the bell crank is rocked, and an adjustably positioned abutment adapted to clear or engage the bell crank when the container is deposited. V

9. The combination with a support having positioning devices, of a container adapted, when lowered, to be automatically given a definite lateral position thereby, a door on the container, a locking device therefor, and means on the support independent of the positioning device for variably operating the locking device.

10. A container having a door, a latching bolt for the door extending downwardly and adapted to lie behind a stationary member of the container to latch the door closed, said bolt having a shoulder, a rocking member pivotally mounted in the floor of the container and having a lip adapted to'overhang the shoulder or clear it according to the angular position of the member, and a suitable support on which the container may rest, said support having an adjustable abutment adapted to occupy either of two positions, in one of which it will engage the member and rock into active position when the container is being deposited on the support, and in the other of which it will miss said member.

11. The combination of a container; havinga door, a downwardly extending latching bolt carried by the door and having a shoulder, a housing mounted in the container floor, a bell crank on a horizontal pivot in the housing, said bell crank having an upwardly extending arm adapted to overhang the shoulder on the bolt or clear it, according to the position of the arm, said bell'crank having a laterally extending arm tending to swing the bell crank into unlatched position, a support for the container having means interactingwith it to position the container laterally, and a stirrup mounted on the support and arranged to be held ineither of two positions thereon to engage and operate the lateral arm'of the bell crank when the container is deposited on the support or to miss said arm rm as desired. 7

12. -A demountable container having a door, a locking device in the floor of the container having a counter-weighted member tending to move downwardly to unlocked position, and asupport having an upwardly extending abutment adapted to raise the counter-weighted member to move it into locking position when the container islowered onto the support, said abutment being movable from active to inactive positionor vice versa before the container is deposited on the support but not while it is in position thereon.

13. The combination of a support, a guiding member mounted thereon, a stirrup slidable on the guiding member, a container adapted to be mounted on the support, door locking mechanism adapted to be carried by the container and engage it in one position and clear it in another of its positions.

1 1. The combination of a support, an abutment pivotally mounted thereon, a container having a door locking mechanism with depending operating means adapted to engage the abutment in one position so as to be raised thereby and to clear it in another position.

15. The combination of a support, a stirrup on the support, means for'pivoting one end of the stirrup to the support, means for locking the other end of the stirrup in either of two positions leaving the stirrup active or inactive, as desired, and a container adapted to rest on the support having a door looking mechanism adapted to engage or clear the stirrup. i

16. A demountable container .having a door equipped with a downwardly extending latch bolt, a counterweighted device in the base ofthe container adapted to engage an abutment when the container is lowered, there being means adapted to be moved by such engagement to interlock with the bolt, and a car carrying such abutment, said abutment being movable from active to inactive position while the container is on the sup port and from a position at the side of the car. I

17. The combination of a support provided with a horizontal rock shaft, a member on the shaft adapted to provide an active abutment in one position of the shaft and be idle in another position, and a container adapted to be deposited on the support and having a door locking mechanism adapted to engage the active abutment.

18. The combination with a container hav ing a door, a latch therefor, a locking device for the latch and a supporting vehicle having a laterally extendingrock shaft, a rock arm on the inner end of the shaft adapted in one position of the shaft to constitute an upstanding abutment to engage the door looking mechanism, and in another position of the shaft to be idle, and an operating arm on the outer end of the shaft.

19. The combination of a container having a door, locking mechanism therefor,and a movable abutment adapted to directly engage the locking mechanism or clear it according to the position of the abutment.

20. The combination of a container having a door, a bolt for locking the door, a locking member for the bolt, and a movable abutment adapted in one position'to directly engage the locking member and in another position to clear it.

21. The combination of a container having a door, a downwardly extending latch bolt therefor, a pivoted member carried by the container having a lip adapted to overhang a shoulder on the bolt when the member is rocked, and an adjustably positioned abutment adapted to clear or directly engage the member when the container is deposited.

22. The combination of a container hav- 7 ing a door, a downwardly extending latching bolt carried by the door and having a shoulder, a housing mounted in the container floor, a bell crank on a horizontal pivot in the housing, said bell crank having an up.- wardly extending arm adapted to overhang the shoulder on the bolt or clear it, according to the position of the arm, said bell crank having a counterweighted laterally extending arm tending'to swing the bell crank into unlatched'position, a support for the con tainer having means interacting with it to position the container laterally, and movable means mounted on the support and arranged to be held in either of two positions thereon to operate or fail to operate the bell crank as desired when the container is deposited on the support.

. In testimony whereof, I hereunto aflix my BENJAMIN F. FITCH.

' signature. 

